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[title]New York is an amazing place to live. We have the 50 best family restaurants, epic NYC museums and some pretty impressive free things to do with kids. As a tradeoff for making a home of the best city in the world, New York parents put up with some pretty crazy stuff...here are just a few examples.
1. Allowing (read: secretly praying for) strangers to pick up your massive stroller with your child inside to help you navigate the subway steps. Trusting, NYC. Trusting.
2. Co-sleeping with your kid even though you didn't plan it that way...you know, since you are living in a studio or one-bedroom that costs more than someone's three-bedroom home in suburbia.
3. Apartments without a washer and dryer. If you're lucky, you've got a Laundromat on the block that'll handle your casual three bags per week. Try making that a quick trip with three kids (none of whom are big enough to actually hold a laundry bag).
4. Your favorite restaurants probably don't take reservations...because why would reservations make sense when it takes two hours to even get your family out of the house.
5. Calling a 15ft x 20ft patch of grass a "park" and feeling grateful your kids have it to play on/in.
6. Tolerating the creepy sound of the white noise machine in your toddler's bedroom. Sure, he's sleeping soundly despite the honking taxis and garbage trucks outside, but you feel like your life is a scene fromThe Ring.
7. The school bus stopping for all of six seconds before inconvenienced cabbies are tooting and cursing in your child's direction.
8. Running all over town and schmoozing admissions directors during preschool tours and interviews, all before your kid can even say "mama."
9. Living without a car and any of the freedom/conveniences that come with a car (carseat, storage, ability to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Vermont on a whim, not having to create a human hand-holding chain while navigating the subway in rush hour).
10. Waiting to check out in the 200-person-long line at Trader Joe's with toddlers in tow just for a decent deal on groceries—it's worth all the whining to grab bulk fruit snacks and 75-cent yogurts, right?
11. Renting an extra storage space in New Jersey just for your kid's old bouncers and toys because, unlike a normal house, there's no garage or attic to store anything.
12. Wrapping those scalding hot pre-war heating poles in your apartment with rope or anything else you can find in Fall/Winter so they don't burn your unsuspecting kids.
13. Braving NYC's public swimming pools. The lockers, the hardcore deck rules, the crowds (did we mention the lack of diving boards?)
14. Not having any outdoor space, unless you count that rusty fire escape (if you count that rusty fire escape, you are a terrible parent).
15. People with seats on the subway pretending to sleep the second they see you standing with your super pregnant belly...
16. Dealing with the lack of high chairs in every restaurant. Thankfully NYC parents are superheroes and have evolved to gracefully bounce their babies on one leg and eat with just one hand.
17. Paying a premium to get diapers delivered to your doorstep. Yeah, they're expensive as is, but if you think we're hauling that value pack of 148 Huggies on the subway, you're crazy.
18. Common Core. Enough said.
19. Waiting in line for 2.5 hours for Macy's Santaland just so your kids can have the glory of hugging elves, seeing a life-size train and meeting the big guy in person.
20. Being limited to a family dog under 50lbs. Your kid's dreams of a Golden Retriever are dashed (unless you live in a super awesome apartment building). Oh, and you also can't have a ferret, sugar glider or iguana, either.
21. Children licking subway things: poles, seats, windows. And allowing them kiss you right afterward (yep, they're still adorable)!
22. Hefty fines for being late to after school pickup. Lateness happens! Running 10 minutes late? Be prepared to cough up at least $10.
23. Forget deer, turkeys and other cool animals you'll find in the country—with the local wildlife here, you can teach your kids about (dogs, rats, pigeons, bodega cats)!
24. Nanny shares...because having random kids in your apartment while you're not home is the best!
25.. People from other places telling us we should leave New York. NYC is STILL the best place to raise a family despite it's quirks, and we're staying!